2016-09-30T15:53:29-05:00

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 3:53 pm   By

Catholics and Evangelicals:  Have you noticed anything different about how we think of one another? When I was a small child, I remember people sometimes speaking of believers from other denominations almost with a hush. It was as though they were “other”—woefully misguided, wrong-headed—and we we should not associate with them. Vatican II did much to change that attitude. Unitatis Redintegratio, the Decree on Ecumenism, had the restoration of unity among all Christians as one of its principal concerns. Pope... Read more

2016-09-30T15:53:30-05:00

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 3:53 pm   By

Worrisome news today out of the Archdiocese of Chicago:  Cardinal Francis George writes in his column in the archdiocesan newspaper, the Catholic New World, that his cancer has become active once again. We knew that his cancer–which affected his bladder in 2006 and returned in 2012 to affect his kidney and liver–was not gone; but it’s been in remission for a year.  Now, he writes in his Lenten meditation to Catholics in the Archdiocese of Chicago, the tumor is showing... Read more

2016-09-30T15:53:30-05:00

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 3:53 pm   By

From a terrace on the River Seine, to a prison wall at Alcatraz, the fragrance of a martyrs’ rose. Antoine A. Jacques was head gardener to the Duc d’Orleans, the future Louis-Philippe I, in Château de Neuilly.  The castle, built in 1751, was burned and destroyed during the Revolution of 1848.  In the 1820s, though, when Monsieur Jacques was gardener, the Château overlooked a series of terraces on the River Seine. Jacques experimented with plants, in particular roses, and developed a number... Read more

2015-06-19T13:31:39-05:00

Last updated on: June 19, 2015 at 1:31 pm   By

A shuttered Catholic Church has had one more chance to nurture young love, as a couple took their wedding vows last month in the decaying structure. In its day, St. Agnes Catholic Church in Detroit probably saw many blushing brides walk down its aisle, many eager grooms wait to receive their beloved’s hand in marriage. But old St. Agnes, located on LaSalle near 12th Street in Detroit, fell upon hard times. When Detroit’s race riots occurred in 1967, St. Agnes... Read more

2016-09-30T15:53:30-05:00

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 3:53 pm   By

Today Pope Francis celebrated the Ash Wednesday liturgy at the Basilica of Santa Sabina, on the Aventine Hill. The choice of Santa Sabina for today’s liturgy was not arbitrary. Santa Sabina is the first of the Lenten Station Churches. In a tradition dating back to the early Church, the faithful of Rome gathered each day of Lent for Mass at a different church. It was, in a sense, a “pilgrimage” for those who could not afford to travel to a... Read more

2016-09-30T15:53:30-05:00

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 3:53 pm   By

Almost a year after floods swept through southwestern France, the Shrine of our Lady of Lourdes is finally about to be repaired. It was June 2013 when the normally placid Gave de Pau River broke its banks, swamping much of southwestern France and leaving the famed pilgrimage site under water for two days.  Work crews rushed to clear mud and remove debris after the massive flood; but the grotto had been inundated by floodwaters, causing millions of dollars in damage... Read more

2016-09-30T15:53:30-05:00

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 3:53 pm   By

Oh, that we all could get into the mood when the choir sings, like this little girl!   As the Kyrgyzstani choir sings, the toddler feels the rhythm and  practices for her future career with the orchestra. Read more

2016-09-30T15:53:30-05:00

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 3:53 pm   By

Bishop Richard Pates, chair of the USCCB’s Committee on International Justice and Peace,  and Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, have signed a joint letter to the U.S. Senate, urging Senators to support Senate Bill 653, which would create a Special Envoy for Religious Freedom. According to a statement just released by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops: March 4, 2014 WASHINGTON—The U.S. Senate should act quickly to address a “growing crisis of religious... Read more

2016-09-30T15:53:30-05:00

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 3:53 pm   By

Pope Francis was “stunned” to hear that there are more than 110,000 abortions performed in Spain annually, according to Fr. Jose Maria Gil Tamayo, spokesman for the Spanish Bishops’ Conference. Holy Father, just wait until you hear about the U.S.! Here in America, the abortion rate has exceeded one million unborn babies each year (1.16 million in 2009 alone).  In the state of California  alone, there were 181,730 reported abortions in 2011.   In the same year, New Yorkers aborted 138,370 of their... Read more

2016-09-30T15:53:31-05:00

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 3:53 pm   By

Yesterday in Rome, it was announced that Pope Francis had opened his gardens at Castel Gandolfo to the public. Tourists will now be able to tour the gardens of the Pontifical Villas  where, according to the director of the Vatican Museums, “the splendor of art and the glory of nature co-exist in admirable equilibrium.” A 90-minute guided tour, either in Italian or in English, will be offered each Monday-Saturday; tickets can be obtained through the Vatican Museums via an on-line... Read more

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